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Is anyone else having problems with WordPress?

I published two posts that totally disappeared into thin air and comments are disappearing, today I found one in the trash and my comment to them has now disappeared! I also have found post from people I follow in the spam folder, and I keep getting ping backs from my homepage to post that I published a while ago…🤔

More than 100 whales – orcas and belugas – are being held in tiny enclosures on Russia’s Pacific Coast in the city of Nakhodka.

This is the largest number of sea creatures to ever be held in small temporary enclosures. Some of them have been there since July.

Marine mammal experts claim that those animals were being sold to Chinese aquariums, despite the fact that legally they are only supposed to be used for scientific and educational work. In China there are thousands of millions of dollars to be made on these whales.

There are currently 11 orcas, 5 baby walrus and 90 baby belugas held in these enclosures.15 of the belugas are yearlings that are completely dependent on the mothers for survival. Yearlings need to be in constant tactile contact with a parent – in case of danger their mother will fight to the death to keep them alive. Capturing whales this young is banned in Russia.

The export of these marine mammals has finally been stopped but the problem now is that these animals are stuck in “whale prison” whilst the authorities try to find the perpetrators and work out the right procedural decision to take. Independent experts are seriously worried that the animals will die if they are kept in these conditions much longer. Whale babies who have not received enough mother’s milk will not survive the winter.

Solution

These Orca’s need to be released into their natural habitat. The belugas need to be transferred to responsible people that will feed them, rehabilitate them and release them into their natural habitat when they are ready.

For the first time, researchers have pinned down just how damaging plastic is to marine animals. In a new study conducted by researchers at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, they have discovered that a sea turtle that has ingested just one piece of plastic has more than a one in five chance of dying after consuming just one piece of plastic

The study was conducted by analyzing nearly 1,000 sea turtles that were found dead on beaches in Australia. What the researchers discovered was that the more plastic a turtle consumes, the great the likelihiod that it will die due to plastic. While this seems obvious, this is the first time scientists have been able to specifically say that the plastic leads to the death of turtles.

Of the 246 turtles examined, 58 contained debris. The count and mass of debris ranged from a single piece to 329 pieces, weighing between <0.01 g to 10.41 g.

“We knew that turtles were consuming a lot of plastic, but we didn’t know for certain whether that plastic actually caused the turtles’ deaths, or whether the turtles just happened to have plastic in them when they died,” said Dr Chris Wilcox, Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere.

The scientists found that once a turtle had 14 plastic items in its gut there was a 50% likelihood that it would cause death. However, that’s not to say that a turtle won’t die if they consume less than 14 pieces of plastic.

Sea turtles in all seven seas are impacted by the plastic and a recent study found that in 100% of turtles tested across three ocean, plastic was found in each one of them.

Currently there is an estimated 15-51 trillion pieces of plastic already estimated to be in the ocean today, that number will only grow at a rapid pace in the future. By 2050, plastic pollution is estimated to outweigh all fish in the ocean.

“The model we’ve developed can be adapted to help us understand the impact of plastic ingestion not just on individuals, but whole populations of other endangered marine species as well.” Said Wilcox.

“The better we understand the issue, the better equipped we are to address the problem, and work towards viable, scalable solutions.”

A newly proposed Florida state bill would ban the use of plastic bags and straws throughout the state. As a good majority of Florida’s borders are covered in ocean coastline, if passed this would be a huge win for marine conservationists and marine animals.

Currently there is an estimated 15-51 trillion pieces of plastic already estimated to be in the ocean today, that number will only grow at a rapid pace in the future. By 2050, plastic pollution is estimated to outweigh all fish in the ocean.

Marine life in turn eats that plastic as they believe it is a food source causing severe sickness or death for millions of animals each year. A recent study found that 100% of turtles tested across three oceans all contained microplastics inside of them.

Microplastics occur due to the salt and acidity of the oceans which breaks plastic down into small “microplastic” pieces, causing a real dilemma for the planets wildlife. While the plastic breaks into smaller pieces, it does not dissolve as it takes hundreds of years for plastic to decompose in the ocean.

The bill, Senate Bill 502, was proposed by Senator Kevin Rader and proposes to prohibit all stores and food services from using plastic bags and plastic straws.

The best thing thing Florida citizens can do right now is to call your representative and let them know that you want to see this bill passed. The more they hear from their citizens in support of the bill, the more likely they are to pass the bill.

by Alex Larson →
Just a few months ago, 90 beluga whales and 11 orcas were captured to be sold to marine parks in China.

The 101 mammals where captured by Russian traders in the open ocean over the course of the summer as the business of holding large marine mammals for human entertainment continues to soar across the world.

The marine mammals were captured by Russian traders in the open ocean over the course of the summer. Once captured, the mammals are taken to Srednyaya Bay, near Nakhodka, Rissua where they animal are kept in small pens until the traders secure buyers, where they will then move to China. Although China is currently the only buyer on the market, it was only in 2015 where SeaWorld and the Georgia Aquarium attempted to buy whales from Russia but where denied by federal officials.

Since then, the animals have suffered and their health has drastically declined. Now new photos and video released on the Facebook by Free Russian Whales reveals just how bad of shape the animals are actually in.

This is Kirill – one of the youngest orcas captured in the summer of 2018 in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia. He is only about 1 year old. He was stolen from his family with another 11 orcas. They are kept in place called “Whale Jail” in Primorsky region in Russia.

One of the orcas disappeared already – captors claim they released it due to aggressive behavior, but it’s more likely that the animal just died. Three baby belugas also disappeared – or “escaped” as captors claim.

Kirill could be next. Latest video from the inspection that took place in January 18-19th showed that his condition is very concerning. Because of very cold winters in Russia and limited space in the seapen that partially covers in ice – Kirill and other orcas have developed frostbite. If something to keep the warm temperature in the enclosures is not done soon – animals most likely will start dying.

Please help us stop this cruelty! These orcas didn’t commit any crime! We have to save them and release them back to their families!

Marine mammal scientists Naomi Rose explained to The Dodo what the capture and imprisonment of the animals does to them, “The trauma and distress these animals experience during captures is not opinion or emotion — it is fact,” Rose added. “They suffer intense stress-related reactions and their mortality risk spikes sharply soon after capture and then again after transport — they don’t get accustomed to the process. The decimated pods may experience similar stress and trauma — their offspring are being taken from them.”

It is actually illegal in Russia to capture and sell marine mammals for commercial purposes but the companies that are conducting the trade have a found a loophole in the law where they claim to be trading the animals for education purposes only, which allows the traders to get the proper permits to capture the animals from the wild.

While animal conservation awareness has grown across the world, many of the marine mammal parks, particularly in China, are not teaching conservation and in fact often harm conservation efforts by participating in this live trade according to Rose.

Rose advocates that to do something about the problem, we need to speak up. It’s also important to not support marine parks that keep whales or dolphins captive, especially if they make them perform.

“Publicize what is happening, as much as possible, on social media,” Rose said. “We need to make the Chinese government embarrassed about their participation in this cruel and unsustainable trade.”

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" - George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting - this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." - George Orwell